Alex Webster

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For the American football player, see Alex Webster (American football).

Alex Webster
Webster performing in 2010
Webster performing in 2010
Background information
Born (1969-10-25) October 25, 1969 (age 54)
Akron, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instrument(s)Bass
Years active1987–present
Member of
Formerly of
Spouse(s)
Alison Webster
​
(m. 2001)​

Alex Webster (born October 25, 1969) is an American musician who is the bassist and a co-founder of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He is one of two original remaining members, alongside drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. He is also the bassist of Blotted Science and the supergroup Conquering Dystopia. Before Cannibal Corpse was formed, he was a member of Beyond Death.

Career[edit]

Webster was born in Akron, New York. When describing his relationship with music, he has stated "I just always liked music since I was a little kid. Music was always a soundtrack in my head to things going on in my life. I always wanted to play. I wanted to play drums when I was about three. I made a drum out of an old butter container and hit it with tinker toys. I was going to make music. Most people who are musicians didn't have to have anyone tell them to do it. I would never push music on someone, because it is something that doesn't need to be pushed. If you're going to make music, you're going to make it."[1]

Webster was originally part of the band Beyond Death, with ex-Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen, in 1987. Both met up with Chris Barnes, Bob Rusay and Paul Mazurkiewicz, all of whom were in the band Tirant Sin. Webster was the one to come up with the band's name, Cannibal Corpse. In an interview, he said that he thought it was a very catchy name for a band. He has a reputation for being friendly to his fans, often asking questions, and genuinely caring what his fans think, regularly answering questions on the band's forum.[2] Webster also recorded bass for Hate Eternal, Erik Rutan's death metal band. Rutan is the producer for Cannibal Corpse's albums that were released between 2006 and 2012, Kill, Evisceration Plague, and Torture. In 2005, Alex was contacted by guitarist Ron Jarzombek about a possible collaboration which became Blotted Science, an all-instrumental extreme metal project. They released their debut album, The Machinations of Dementia, in the fall of 2007.

When asked about his favorite Cannibal Corpse song, Webster answered: "I don't know, it would be hard to choose one that's the "best", but one of my favorites is "From Skin to Liquid", mainly because it was so different for us. It showed we didn't necessarily have to be playing at warp drive and have gory lyrics to be heavy."[3]

Equipment[edit]

Webster currently uses Spector 'Alex Webster Signature Edition'[4] (based on Euro 5lx basses), DR Strings, and His signature Hammer Smashed Bass pickups by Seymour Duncan paired with a Darkglass Electronics tone capsule preamp wired for 18 volt operation.

Personal life[edit]

Webster lives with his wife in Oregon, U.S. He is agnostic, though he was "brought up with a fairly religious upbringing [which was] Protestant, Methodist".[5]

Musical influences[edit]

Webster has stated that he is a big fan of Slayer, and that if any band could cover a Cannibal Corpse song, it would be Slayer.[6][7]

Webster's five all-time favorite albums are (in descending order) Accept's Restless and Wild, Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, Metallica's Master of Puppets, Iron Maiden's Powerslave and Slayer's Reign in Blood,[8] and, in a 2006 interview with LambGoat.com, Webster named his five favourite albums of the past five years as Spawn of Possession's Cabinet, Necrophagist's Epitaph, Aeon's Bleeding the False, Hate Eternal's I, Monarch, and Spastic Ink's Ink Compatible.[9]

Webster named the Morbid Angel album Altars of Madness one of his all-time favourites, citing "Chapel of Ghouls", "Immortal Rites", and "Visions from the Darkside" as his favorite tracks in particular; though prior to naming these three tracks, Webster states that "that whole album is so amazing, it's hard to choose [a favourite]".

Aside from metal, Webster has also expressed a liking for Ohio New Wave band Devo,[7] and, when asked what a musical guilty pleasure of his was, he replied "there's some good songs from the first No Doubt album".[7]

Honors[edit]

The prehistoric giant marine worm species Websteroprion armstrongi is partially named after Webster.[10] Luke Parry, one of the scientists who described the species, said of the name, "Mats and I are both massive metalheads and think Alex Webster is a monstrously good bass player... (He) just seemed like the perfect fit for a giant worm with saw-like jaws."[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Interview with Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse – Cannibal Corpse interview". Heavymetal.about.com. June 14, 2010. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  2. ^ "Official Cannibal Corpse forum". cannibalcorpse.org. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  3. ^ "Official Cannibal Corpse forum". cannibalcorpse.org. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  4. ^ "Stuart Spector Designs, LTD – Makers of electric and bass guitars". Spectorbass.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  5. ^ Hartmann, Graham (August 7, 2012). "Cannibal Corpse's Alex Webster Discusses 'Torture,' Summer Slaughter + Religion". Loudwire. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  6. ^ "Cyanide-Assassin's Journal – Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) interview". Last.fm. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c Karma E. "Cannibal Corpse interview". Fourteeng.net. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  8. ^ Staff, Invisible Oranges StaffInvisible Oranges (November 5, 2012). "Interview: Cannibal Corpse's Alex Webster". Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  9. ^ "Cannibal Corpse interview // Interviews // Features // Lambgoat". Lambgoat.com. July 15, 2006. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  10. ^ Eriksson, Mats E.; Parry, Luke A.; Rudkin, David M. (February 21, 2017). "Earth's oldest 'Bobbit worm' – gigantism in a Devonian eunicidan polychaete". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 43061. Bibcode:2017NatSR...743061E. doi:10.1038/srep43061. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5318920. PMID 28220886. S2CID 12024958.
  11. ^ This 400-Million-Year-Old Worm Monster Is Metal as Hell, by Rae Paoletta, at Gizmodo; published February 21, 2017; retrieved March 29, 2017
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